Praise for Peterborough United as injuries continue to pile up
Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson has praised his players for the way they’ve reacted to a deepening availability crisis.
Eight Posh players - Frazer Blake-Tracy, George Boyd, Siriki Dembele, Idris Kanu (who could miss the rest of the season with a serious eye injury), Josh Knight, Marcus Maddison, Ivan Toney and Joe Ward - have been absent recently because of injury, suspension or illness.
And the return of Maddison, Toney and Ward has now been partly offset by the departure of experienced full-back Nathan Thompson for up to six weeks after he picked up a thigh injury in the early moments of last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Bolton at the Weston Homes Stadium.
Posh have overcome regular disruption to pick up seven points from their last three matches and thus consolidate their third-place position in League One, but they will be tested again when visiting fourth-placed Bristol Rovers on Saturday (December 21).
“A lot has been thrown at us in December,” Ferguson stated. “But so far the players have coped superbly.
“I’m not that surprised because I knew we had built a good squad here, but full credit to the players who have stepped in and played so well.
“The attitude of all of them has been first-class. We’ve had some big players missing and still picked up positive results.
“It’s another huge test for us on Saturday as Rovers are one of the form teams in the country as they showed by winning at Ipswich last weekend.
“They’ve only lost two of their last 21 matches which is some record. They are a well organised team and we will have to be at our best to get something from the game.”